Sociomusicology: 2026

2/4/26

Music Dissertations from Denmark and the Faroes

Two talented PhD candidates have now proceeded to the final stages of their doctoral studies.

Knut Eysturstein (University of the Faroe Islands) has submitted a full draft of his dissertation, The Concept of the Faroese in Music Education: Negotiating Identity and Notions of Tradition, which will soon proceed with final edits and then be sent to the examiners. This is the first study to offer an in-depth historical and ethnographic perspective on music in the Faroe Islands. The external examiners (“opponents”) for Knut’s PhD dissertation defense, to be held in Spring 2026, have also formally accepted their appointments: music educationist Helga Rut Gudmundsdottir (University of Iceland) and ethnomusicologist Kimberly Cannady (Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand).

Recently, Marianne Løkke Jakobsen (Director of Global Affairs, Royal Danish Academy of Music) has very successfully completed her “pre-defense” at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark. Marianne has an impressive series of published articles that together demonstrate many important aspects to be considered in intercultural synchronous online teaching of musical instruments, particularly with Chinese students. She now proceeds to writing the “kappa” which links together the publications into a cohesive whole for presentation and evaluation of the entire project, offering multiple recommendations to improve music teaching and learning in conservatoires.

It has been a great pleasure to work with these fine young scholars who are generating entirely new insights for music and related fields.

2/3/26

PhD Defense on Music in Uganda

Soon, an important event to be celebrated: The PhD dissertation defense of Erisa Walubo at Makerere University, Uganda.

With studies supported by the CABUTE project, Erisa has forthcoming articles in Philosophy of Music Education Review and other journals, and has produced an impressive ethnographic study that demonstrates from a decolonial perspective how Indigenous arts traditions can be effectively integrated into education.

It has consistently been a great pleasure to mentor Erisa, who shows enormous promise as a scholar and educator.

1/21/26

Grieg Research School: Summer Course 2026

The Grieg Research School in Interdisciplinary Music Studies (GRS) has announced its upcoming PhD course and research symposium, open to all PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers with an interest in music.

This will be held on 16-18 June, 2026 in the greater Bergen area, on the beautiful island of Stord, western Norway.

GRS promises to be an exciting event, with many stimulating opportunities to share and learn about the latest theories, methods, and findings across an array of music fields.

Please share this opportunity with music researchers, and click here for more information: https://griegresearchschool.no/courses/grs-summer-school-2026/

Public domain image source: https://snl.no/Sunnhordland

1/17/26

Board Meetings and PhD Completions

On behalf of the ISME Board, the Executive Committee has just completed 10 hours of online planning meetings across the past week for future activities of the International Society for Music Education. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with this tight-knit group of such professional, thoughtful and committed international colleagues from Mexico, Australia, USA, Hong Kong, India and Norway.

We believe our many initiatives will help make ISME even more effective and responsive to its members across the world.

It is also a pleasure to announce that across the past few weeks, two PhD students, for whom I served as an external examiner, have formally passed their doctoral defense (viva voce) and now proceed to some final revisions before receiving their PhD degrees.

-Nurezlin Mohd Azib (2025, December), Reconceptualising the Learning of Expressiveness in Music Performance: Malaysian Undergraduate Voices Beyond Western Traditions (viva voce, Royal College of Music, London, UK).

-Huang, Yuqing (2026, January), Vocal Characteristics and Social Class in Light Soprano Roles: A Study of Character and Performance in Opera (viva voce, UCSI University, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia).

I eagerly look forward to seeing what they achieve in the future!

Life always has its ups and downs, but music certainly helps us to find the resilience to get through everything. Click HERE to access a recent blues performance.

Welcome to Sociomusicology

For nearly 20 years (since 2007), this website has offered musings on contemporary society and its music by David G. Hebert, PhD. He is a sociomusicologist specializing in global music education who has held academic positions with universities on five continents. Dr. Hebert is now a tenured full Professor with Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. There he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research group and manages the multinational government-funded Nordic Network for Music Education, which organizes annual intensive Master courses and exchange of teachers and students across eight countries. He is also an Affiliated Professor with both University of the Faroe Islands and Kyambogo University (Uganda), and an Honorary Professor in China with the Education University of Hong Kong.

Professor Hebert's research applies an international-comparative perspective to issues of pluralism, identity, and cultural relevance in music education, as well as processes by which new music traditions emerge and change - both sonically and socially - as they are adopted into institutions. Born in the 1970s, he is among the most widely-published and globally-active music scholars of his generation (h-index:22), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).